The present invention relates to a vehicle comprising a heating and air-conditioning installation.
Such vehicles are known which include, on the one hand, a heating/air-conditioning apparatus which comprises a heating radiator, an evaporator as well as an air-distribution device, which conventionally includes air intakes, a blower and a system of controlled flaps, and, on the other hand, a compressor and a condenser which interact functionally with the heating/air-conditioning apparatus.
It has been suggested that compressors driven by an electric motor be used in order to dissociate the operation of the compressor from the operation of the internal-combustion engine, in particular in order to overcome the degradation in air-conditioning performance which is generally observed with the engine idling. This technique, which requires a powerful electrical source in the vehicle, can be employed in the context of the change to an electrical power supply voltage of 42V or more.
It has also been suggested, especially in the French Patent Application No FR 2 761 405 filed on Mar. 27, 1997 by the Applicant, to use a water-cooled condenser in a refrigerating loop for motor-vehicle air conditioning.
The basic idea of the present invention is to take advantage of these progressive technological changes in order to obtain compactness of the topology of the installation.
One object of the invention is especially to allow shortening of the ducts and thus lower losses of pressure head, as well as the possibility of reducing the losses of refrigerant and/or a gain from the cost point of view and/or increased flexibility in the thermal and acoustic optimisation of the loop, given that the number of external factors interfering with the loop is limited.
According to the present invention there is provided a vehicle comprising a heating/air-conditioning installation comprising, on the one hand, a heating and air-conditioning apparatus which comprises a radiator, an evaporator and an air-distribution device and, on the other hand, a compressor and a condenser interacting functionally with the evaporator so as to form a thermal loop, wherein the compressor is an electric compressor, in that the condenser is cooled by a cooling circuit supplied with a fluid other than air, and in that the electric compressor and the condenser are housed in a space lying between a vertical plane passing through the axle of front wheels of the vehicle and a vertical plane passing through the back of seat backs of front seats of the vehicle.
Advantageously, the vehicle includes a functional unit, which forms a complete system, which can be housed in a casing, combining the said heating and air-conditioning apparatus, the electric compressor and the condenser.
The said circuit for cooling the condenser may feature a fluid-cooling exchanger and at least one exchanger for cooling at least one electrical power-supply module, this latter exchanger being arranged upstream of the condenser in the direction of circulation of the fluid in the cooling circuit. The fluid-cooling exchanger may be a heat-carrying fluid/air exchanger and the heat-carrying fluid may be water, or else a mixture of water and glycol.
The compressor and the condenser can be housed on the face of the bulkhead of the vehicle which lies on the engine-compartment side, or in the vicinity thereof.
The heating radiator and the condenser can be grouped together into a single exchanger called an integrated exchanger. The vehicle may then include a cockpit module incorporating the electric compressor, the said integrated exchanger and outlets for supplying heat-carrying fluid for the integrated exchanger.
The vehicle may include a mixing circuit provided with a mixing flap in order to direct air passing through the evaporator either in the form of a direct airflow, or in the form of an airflow diverted onto the integrated exchanger, or in the form of a mixture of these two flows.